


Established

by CrownedinIvy



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bad Jokes, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mako'sIssues, MakoandBolinGrowingUp, Multi, POV First Person, Past Sexual Assault, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Triggers, Triple Threat Triad, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:27:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownedinIvy/pseuds/CrownedinIvy
Summary: Mako has a deep hatred for a bad joke and eventually the Krew discovers what happened to him growing up on the streets.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 127





	Established

“We’ve already established what you are. Now we’re just haggling the price”

The city was cold and his brother was starving. He could bend flames for warmth, but that would not fill either of their stomachs. So he was digging through a bakery’s garbage.

The baker came out and grabbed him. He could call the fire, but then the police would come; so he struggled in vain. The baker took into a darkened pantry and shut the door. No one heard him scream.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two years went by, he was bigger and stronger now. But the city was still cold and his brother was still starving. The man had said he’d give him five yuans if he…… He would take care of his brother. No matter what it took. The man made him kneel, but he never showed weakness.

Later while he cried himself to sleep, he held his brother close. When they got food the next day he threw up. From then on he didn’t eat after; it was a waste of money. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three more years burned by and he somewhere along the way forgot what it felt like. To be clean, to be good, to be worth something more than a few yuans at a time. He worked more, helped a triad, pleasured another, whatever it took to keep his brother safe? Free from this torture at the very least.

Then came the fight and the man and his offer. At first he worried, worried that the man wanted his brother, but when he confronted him the man was appalled that he had asked. They never spoke of it again. For the first time since the parents turned to blood and ash, he started to feel safe.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was beautiful and Mako liked her, but she was a teammate. What other people would call pleasure Mako feared to connect anywhere near work. More importantly his brother expressed desire for her. Mako would rather die than cause his brother pain. But she kissed him, though, and he gave her what she wanted. He had taught himself to put Mako away when they tried to take him a long time ago.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was about repayment, but that didn’t mean Mako couldn’t enjoy himself. Until she turned the tables. Then he was trapped and had no way to escape. Society’s conventions were stronger than rope ties; those he could burn.

She wanted to celebrate. She probably thought he would too. He gave her what she asked for though. And felt no better than a street walker after. For the first time in almost three years, he held his sleeping brother as he cried himself to sleep.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As time went on Mako fell in love with the girl who could call fire and water and air and earth. He wanted to fully share himself with her. To give her everything, but inside Mako knew himself to be too damaged, too broken for her. So he lost her again and again.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were goofing off, blowing steam, having fun. Then his brother told a joke that hit him like a punch to the gut.

“So then the guy asks will you do it for five yuans? And she says “No! What do you think I am? And he says “We’ve already established what you are; now we’re just haggling the price.”

Asami and Korra snickered and Bolin wore that stupid grin and Mako fled to the toilet to lose his dinner in peace.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were captured. It seemed to be becoming a habit, getting taken hostage. This group was more organized and had gotten Mako, Bolin, Korra, Master Tenzin, and Jinora. That was bad, but then a man came in and it got worse.

Mako knew him, could never forget him, in spite of all his efforts to. This monster was terrible, but was the reason he and Bolin had survived so long on the streets. Bolin didn’t even know what this man looked like.

Korra, Bolin, and Jinorra were all talking, yelling at the man, but he ignored them. He had already set his sights on Mako. Once he was standing directly in front of Mako, leering over him, the man spoke.

“Haven’t you grown up pretty? Tell you what, since you’re such a big shot now, I’ll let your brother go for a quickie.”

There was silence for the next few moments. He could feel that the others were appalled, but he focused on maintaining disinterest. He knew he could drive up the price that way.

“Just because I’m feeling generous, I’ll let the little girl go too,” offered the man, _the monster._

Closer he thought, but he needed more. Unfortunately, his brother didn’t understand the need for his silence in the process.

“You’re sick. You think my brother is just going to sell himself? What kind of person does that?” his brother declared.

The man smirked and slammed his bow staff against the bars. The man taunted him, but he looked at his brother. His brother’s eyes were wide with disgust and fear and he couldn’t blame his brother. So he tried to reassure him with a smile, but it felt brittle even to him.

“Should I tell them what you are?” The man asked. He took a shaky breath trying to hold onto that smile.

“We’ve already established what I am. Now we’re just haggling the price.”

The silence from the others, his brother especially, had never been more oppressive as he bargained for their freedom. In the end, he was only able to buy his brother’s, and the air benders’ freedom; still it was better than five yuans, right?

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He’d never thought his brother would be so violent. His brother had returned with Master Tenzin, Chief Beifong, and a small army of police officers to rescue the Avatar. Not that she had needed rescuing; she’d managed to escape her cell just before the rescue team arrive. But it wasn’t the rescue that was violent. After he’d been escorted out of his cell, by some of the officer’s he saw his brother had bound the man, who was far more bloody that even a serious fight could justify.

The man started to speak to him, but he couldn’t hear what the man had said before the man’s words had turned to screams. His brother had driven a boulder right below the man’s belt. He looked to Chief Beifong, expecting her to reprimand his brother. Instead she met his eyes and declared that no one had seen that. That it hadn’t happened.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They made him go to the hospital. He didn’t know why, since he wasn’t injured. Not really, it was just a little blood. And the limp would be gone in a day or two. The end of the week at most.

He was a little concerned that Mako hadn’t come out yet. It had happened before, though, so he wouldn’t worry yet. Then he was thankful Mako wasn’t out because the healer explained how he would be examined.

He was getting dressed when his brother burst into the room like a wolf-bat from the abyss and proceeded to yank him into a hug. It took him a moment to realize he was supposed to return the embrace. When his brother finally let him go, the healer started to speak, but he couldn’t pay attention. His brother did and eventually the fog began to fade. Only to be replace with exhaustion. 

“But, why is he so spacey?” Bolin asked.

“Its shock,” said the healer. “Trauma can do that to a person. I won’t release him until he’s come out of it. Shock can be dangerous and--”

“I’m fine,” Mako cut in. “What do I need to sign in order to leave?”

At that Bolin stormed out of the room, leaving Mako confused. The healer looked at him skeptically, which annoyed him. He wasn’t made of spun glass. This was nothing new. Except that it was.

It was new that other people, important people, knew what he was and what he had done. He wasn’t sure why he’d worked so hard to keep a secret before, but with the way everyone was reacting he was glad he had. They were angry and Mako didn’t understand. Mako knew what he did was wrong, but he had done it to save them, so didn’t that make up for it?

The healer agreed to let him leave, in the morning rather than right now. She felt it was important that he sleep in a bed tonight rather than under his desk. So he didn’t sleep at all and left in the morning.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he walked into the police station everything stopped. The talking, the movement, any work stopped, and everyone stared at him. He felt Mako slipping away which didn’t make any sense; there was….. none of that here. The stares continued until, Beifong’s door whipped open and the Chief ordered everyone back to work. Then she gestured for him to follow her, down the hall.

Mako sat down on the offered couch across from the Chief as she took out her note book. She said she needed his statement about what had happened, but that he could leave out any details he didn’t feel comfortable with. This time.

So he told the story of the capture and his bargain and then the rescue. After Mako had finished, the Chief asked how he’d met the man. Mako stayed quiet for a moment and much to his surprise Beifong apologized, but said she needed to know. So he steeled himself and told her while staring at the wall behind her. Then the room fell into silence

“How old were you, when ….when this happened?” Beifong asked, finally. 

“I was turning eleven—“ And she got up and walked out of the room. He heard a huge clatter from outside and when it finished Beifong walked back in.

“You’re on medical leave for the next week and light duty after that until you pass a full eval. That means half days and desk work only. And if I see you here before that week is up, Detective, then you’ll be on psychiatric leave for the next month and half. Dismissed,” she said and walked right back out.

When Mako found his legs and got into the hall, he saw that everything metal or stone was out of shape. As he made his way out the back door, Mako realized it wasn’t just the hall. It was the entire building that was bent out of shape.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mako called Air Temple Island from a pay phone, to see if Bolin was there. The Air Acolyte, who answered, said that yes Bolin was there and that Mako’s room was ready so he should come over now. Mako declined the Acolyte’s off to send a car to pick him up. The Acolytes were over-zealous at the best of times, which this was not. Mako called Asami and asked for a ride, which she agreed to give and commented on how great it was that he had been released from the hospital.

Mako dozed on the way to Air Temple Island as he had not slept the night before. As embarrassing as it was he couldn’t sleep without knowing exactly where Bolin was. Asami, much to his relief, just mentioned how injuries did that and said no more on the way.

Arriving on the Island was awful. Mako was greeted by a small army of Air Acolytes who were bowing and lavishing him to go see Mistress Pema. One said Bolin had just gone into town and that Avatar Korra had gone with him.

Pema was in the kitchen preparing lunch, when Mako walked in. She smiled, but Mako could tell it something was wrong. Then she waved the Air Acolytes out of the room and offered him a seat. Mako realized what was happening and since he couldn’t bear to hear her say it he spoke first.

“I’ll stay away from your children, Mistress Pema. Don’t worry I won’t—

Pema lunged at him and pulled him into a fierce hug and told him to be quiet. Mako sat there unsure what to do. His confusion deepened when the Air Lady began to cry.

“You are a hero, Mako. You are a brave and wonderful person and I am so thankful that you are in my family’s life. If you ever, ever insinuate again that somehow we’d be better off without you, then I’ll have Meelo sit on you while Ikki and Jinora explains the Air Nomad meaning of family,” Pema said when she pulled away from the embrace, with tears still in her eyes.

A lump formed in his throat, but Mako couldn’t understand why. He nodded in response though, which seemed to be the right answer.

Then Meelo came flying into the room and tackled Mako and the moment was over. 

Mako got the feeling that none of the Air benders or Acolytes wanted to leave him alone. Throughout the rest of the day, there was always someone there. Meelo demanding he be a dragon in a game. Ikki talking at the speed of light about one thing or another. Jinorra always sitting in the room pretending to read a book, but she was really staring at him. Air Acolytes inviting him to meditation, swimming, or the orchard.

Master Tenzin was the worst though. He’d walk up to Mako and start to speak, only to start stammering proverbs or dirty jokes that he butchered. The raunchiest caused Pema to smack him which was the only thing that brought a small smile to Mako’s face.

Everyone was swarming him, except the one person he needed to see. Mako got so tired and irritable as the day drug on that when he was finally left alone, he retreated to his room. Then finally, Bolin returned up. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence reigned for half a beat, but it was enough to alert Mako of his brother’s unease. But before he could speak, Bolin launched into babbling.

“I was thinking we could go get dinner, just the two of us, ya know? Asami recommended this one swanky Earth Kingdom restaurant, and Korra said we should check out that new Water Tribe café by the Bay. Or we could hit up this old Fire Nation bar, Chief Beifong and Tenzin used to go there with their parents and it’s supposed to have the most authentic food…”

Mako just let the words wash over him and the sound of Bolin’s voice soothed the ever growing ache in his chest. Until he realized that he would need to kill this idea if Bolin was going to eat tonight.

“Bo, I’m not hungry.” Bolin just stared at Mako, and it was incredibly unnerving, because for the first time in his memory, Mako couldn’t read Bolin’s face.

“I mean, we can go wherever you want, I just don’t want to eat anything,” And again, Bolin said nothing for a moment, then sighed.

“Did you talk to the healers? At all?” he asked. Mako shook his head. He saw no reason to; he knew what he was doing. Bolin sighed again and sat down on the bed next to his brother, close enough to touch, but never making contact.

“I did, Bro. And let me tell you, it was terrifying. They said that I and the other, ‘cause I’m counting them as family, need to watch for the next week or so. That a bunch of stuff could go wrong with recovery from you injuries like infection or bleeding, but that wasn’t the scary stuff,” Bolin spoke quietly, shoulders shaking by the end of his statement.

Mako pulled Bolin into his arms and tucked his brother’s head under his chin. Years of practice had taught Mako that this was the best was to comfort Bolin and Mako himself as well. He breathed in deeply, the smell of dust and fire ferret and the faint whiff of cinnamon that spoke of chia. But this time Bolin stiffened and pulled away from him. Mako looked away, eyes to the floor and shoulders slumped. He should have known Bolin wouldn’t want to touch him, not now.

Then Bolin reached out and cupped Mako’s face in his hands, forcing Mako to look him in the eyes; eyes that were filling with tears.

“The scary part was that they said people who went through what you did, thought it was their fault. They said that sometimes they’d stop eating to punish themselves, or worse. Your healer said specifically if you did anything to hurt yourself, I had to take you back to the hospital that if we didn’t you could die. And I can’t lose you!” Bolin broke off into sobs and launched himself into his brother’s chest, knocking them both onto the floor. 

Mako’s eyes filled, to his horror, and that lump Pema had put in his throat earlier was back again. He fought back the tears as he comforted Bolin.

“Bo, I’ll be fine, I’m always fine, aren’t I” He murmured into his brother’s ear, like whenever they were younger and he had been hurt, be it from the triad or something more sinister and his brother noticed.

Bolin tried to stop sobbing, but tears continued to roll down his now red and swollen face as he stuttered out an answer.

“No you’re not, and you haven’t been for a long time.” Those words were like shards of ice being shoved into Mako’s very soul. That was the issue wasn’t it, he thought to himself. Mako was fine, but he wasn’t okay. But maybe he could be.

**Author's Note:**

> So I was going through my old laptop and found this.   
> Figured I'd share it, so I cleaned up the grammar a bit and voila. It was inspired by a particularly bad joke made by someone and the subsequent panic attack it triggered in a friend. 
> 
> The joke goes:  
> A man asks a woman if she'll have sex with him; she refuses. He asks if she'll have sex with him for a million dollars. She rolls her eyes and say sure. Then he asks if she'll do it for 5 dollars. She asks what kind of person he thinks she is and he replies. "We've already established what you are, now we're just haggling the price."
> 
> Consent is impossible unless both parties are over the age majority. Anything else is wrong, I will not be taking questions or comments on that.


End file.
